Lowering the noise floor
The silence between the musical notes is often heralded as the best music maker of all. In our opinion therein lies a lot of truth to such a statement! For many of the best musicians, it’s often what is not played or how something is phrased that makes it communicate better.
The dynamic pitch, the pace of the music, stopping and starting when things should, the communication of the ever-important message in the music, whether purely with the music/musicians themselves or the lyrics that drive it home to head and heart alike.
These are the complex qualities that we too are trying to emulate in building an extraordinary audio system.
Reducing unwanted noise or interference has been the key to many of the greatest and most worthwhile advances in audio performance over the last decade, better connecting us with our music and the musicians who are creating it, in both the analogue and digital domains. Squeezing ever greater performance by lowering the intrinsic noise floor in any given product, in conjunction with the other products in the chain, rather than purely trying to produce more and more information at the expense of balance and naturalness – this is a far more complex subject than at first it might seem.
What gives?
For us at Airt Audio there are three main areas where we can externally take back control regarding the noise floor. When you have a well-balanced system and you apply these three defining principles in the right order we can promise you that the results will be quite remarkable, no matter what the room or the system. For us they rank in the following order, with Acoustics always being number one, however Electrical and Mechanical will often swap in the hierarchy dependent upon the individual system and the combinations of product applied. This is where the value of both ourselves and our partners’ experience can be an essential part of your journey.
Acoustically
Acoustics is by far the number one culprit to added distortions (>70%), both smearing, altering & distorting the music/sound. In particular, the super important and fundamental relationship/issue of the phase & time domain, in-room, that affects our whole connection and relationship to the music. The human ear is incredibly sensitive and revealing, especially with regards to timing and phase. It is often far more critical at picking things up that intrinsically matter than measuring devices alone!
Read more on Acoustic Treatments
Mechanically
Mechanical is related to the energy created by the products themselves and/or the acoustic feedback from the sound waves in-room. It is related to how we can mitigate the effect on a particular product as well as the knock on effect that then applies to subsequent products in the chain.
Read more on Mechanical Treatments
Electrically
This is more based on the shared noise between components as well as the grounding of the components. Dealing with RFI, EMI and Para-magnetic properties, as well as High-Frequency pollution, carried, as well as generated, by the mains current and the components themselves.
Read more on Electrical Treatments
LTNF Partners
Take a look at our partners who join us in our mission to lower the noise floor.
All partners stock a range of Acustica Applicata, Entreq and Stillpoints products each of which play pivotal roles in the search for audio perfection and emotional connection to the music.
Learn more about Lowering the noise floor. We recommend starting with Acoustic Treatments and reading through all three methods.
Alternatively, book a consultation with us through the form below.
